The million-dollar question: how to manipulate a slot machine?

We enjoy slot machines very much and of course things even get better if we’re in the winning mood. Losing, however, is also very frustrating for us, and there have been many moments that we asked ourselves the million-dollar question: how to manipulate a slot machine? Luckily, we’re experienced enough to realize that a slot hack is not only beyond our reach, it is also not the way we want to beat the casino. 

Beating the casino in the long run is impossible after all, as every slot has a built-in house advantage, so you always run a loss in the long term. There are some people, however, who have managed to beat the system, and there are still other ways to increase your chance of winning at the casino, at least in the short term. We’ll take a closer look at both of them.

How to hack a slot machine at a casino

People trying to slot machines have existed since the very first slot machine was launched. The old-fashioned slots were hackable with a magnet and some skillful players could force the wheel to spin in such a way that they ended up winning. Throughout history slot machines were designed in such a way that they were nearly impossible to manipulate. Nearly impossible, that is, as there will always be people looking to hack arcade games. One of the most remarkable machine hacks happened in 2014 in the United States.

How to hack slot machines with a phone

The accountants at the Lumiere Place Casino in Saint Louis, Missouri, discovered something strange in June 2014. A series of slots in their casino paid out extremely high amounts for a few days. As these amounts were a lot higher than usual, the accounts started to suspect fraud and they turned out to be right. The security department examined the security cameras installed in the casino and eventually spotted a thirty-something male with black hair, dressed in a Ralph Lauren vest, holding a square brown bag in his hands. The strange thing was that the suspect didn’t do anything strange: he simply pressed the start button and won. The only striking thing was that he held his iPhone close to the screen every time he made his bet.

Some older slot machines have patterns

In two days he raked in more than $21,000 in profit. The security employees immediately notified the Missouri casino supervisor and several casinos in the state had also been robbed by a man holding his phone close to the slot machine, which brings us to the next question: slot machines should be completely random, right? True. Well, almost true. Some older slot machines do work with a certain pattern which was intercepted by the Russian hackers. Newer slot machines, and online slots are pattern proof and should make it possible to gamble and obtain random results.

Is it possible to hack an online casino?

There will always be master hackers, however, who will try to hack slot machines, but this should be extremely rare nowadays, especially online. Online casinos invest a lot of money in the security of their website and games and work together with major software suppliers, who integrate independent Random Number Generators (RNG) to generate random results. All of this is regulated by gambling authorities and internationally approved testing agencies. In other words, the chance that an online casino will face a slot machine hack is small. Until the day of today there haven’t been any significant online slot machine hacks.

How to beat the online casino?

We would therefore like to urge you to focus on minimizing losses and maximizing profits, but get rid of the idea of how to hack arcade machines. Both online casinos and land based casinos will most likely be able to detect frauds sooner or later, meaning you’re committing a crime. Alternatively, we have listed a few tips to maximize your winnings:

Practice for free via the demo mode

Almost every online casino offers the opportunity to play for free via the demo/fun mode. This demo mode can be very helpful to familiarize yourself with the slot machine and figure out how everything works. This way you can master the game before you invest your own money. Trying free games gives you the chance to learn and practice risk-free. We therefore recommend that you only go for the games you understand. So take advantage of the free fun mode, learn the game, and when you fully get it, only then start playing for money.

Define your targets

Also determine your profit goal in advance and stick to it. One strategy that works very well is the “hit-and-run” technique, which means quicker sessions and realistic, short term goals. Depositing $100 would mean a $200 profit target is realistic, not $10,000. Once you make your profit, close the session, and either move on or stop for the day.

Skip the autoplay feature

Do not use the autoplay feature, although it’s the easiest thing to do: setting the autoplay to 250 spins, while doing something else in the meantime, and eventually finding out whether you have won or not. The big problem with autoplay is that you’re losing focus there. Maybe you won a major bonus half way your spins, but eventually lost it in the next spins. You would’ve stopped if you were sitting in front of your computer screen, but the truth is, well, that you weren’t…

Play medium volatility slots

Low variance slots like Starburst are credit killers. Low variance means that you win very regularly, but it won’t be a lot of money. That’s obviously fine if you’re looking for an entertaining game, but our guess is that you’re going for the most lucrative slot machines. Stick to medium volatility slots instead, meaning your wins will be more significant, while you won’t blow up your balance after a few spins.

Play slots with high payout percentages

If you have the choice between a 5% or a 2,5% interest for your savings account at the bank, which one do you choose? We would stick to the first option and we assume that you would agree on this, as 2,5% can actually make a huge difference in the long run. Yet, many players never look at the payout percentage of a slot machine. We advise you to do so and to skip any slot machine with a payout percentage (RTP) of less than 96%.

Play online instead of physical slot machines

Fact: on average, online slots pay out 5% to 19% more than land-based slot machines. An online slot machine usually pays out between 95% and 99%, while slot machines in brick and mortar casinos pay out between 80% and 92%, and you can’t really blame them. Psychical casinos have a much higher overhead, forcing them to lower the payout percentage. Still, if you have the choice you would be better off with online slot machines.

Read our slot machine reviews

We review a lot of new slot machines, giving you everything you need to know about the latest online launches. In these extensive slot reviews, our experts inform you on how the slot works, and give you important details like payout percentage, variance, minimum and maximum bets.

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